THE AXION ESTI

Whe Odysseus Elytis was awarded the obel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy's citatio sigled out The Axio Esti, first published i 1959, as 'oe of twetieth-cetury literature's most cocetrated ad richly faceted poems.' It ca be see both as a secular oratorio, reflectig the Greek heritage ad the coutry's revolutioary spirit, ad also as a kid of autobiography, i which the spiritual roots of the poet's very idividual sesibility are set i the wider philosophical cotext of the Greek traditio. I his evocatio of eteral Greece, his visio of the war ad its aftermath, ad his cocludig celebratio of huma life, Elytis is a true voice of our age – a deeply persoal lyric poet who speaks for humaity at large.